U.S. Will Mail AIDS Advisory to All Households

AP

Published: May 5, 1988

WASHINGTON, May 4—
The Federal Government today began a three-week campaign to inform Americans about AIDS, focused around a pamphlet to be mailed to every household in the nation.

It will be the first time the United States Government has tried to send a health advisory directly to every American with a mailing address.

A Spanish version will not be mailed, as post offices do not maintain lists of which households speak Spanish. Rather, efforts will be made to distribute the Spanish language pamphlet through community-based organizations in Latin neighborhoods.

The promotional campaign - including television spots and posters in each of the nation's post offices - is designed to alert Americans to be looking for the pamphlet when it starts showing up in mailboxes May 26.

''The brochure lays out the facts of what everyone needs to know,'' Dr. Otis R. Bowen, Secretary of Health and Human Services, said in an interview.

''It's written in plain, easy, straightforward language that is at about the 12-to-13-year-old reading level,'' Dr. Bowen said. ''It doesn't mince words, yet it is in good taste. It stresses proper behavior and it stresses values and responsibilities.'' Candor Is Urged

Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, whose photograph appears on the cover of the pamphlet, writes in a message beside the picture:

''Some of the issues involved in this brochure may not be things you are used to discussing openly. I can easily understand that. But now you must discuss them. We all must know about AIDS. Read this brochure and talk about it with those you love.''

The pamphlet includes a reference to condoms as useful in preventing the spread of AIDS. ''For those who are sexually active and not limiting their sexual activity to one partner, condoms have been shown to help prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases,'' it says. ''That is why the use of condoms is recommended to help reduce the spread of AIDS.''

Dr. Koop infuriated critics in 1986, when his 36-page report on AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome, called for sex education in schools. Braced for Criticism

Dr. Koop was asked at a news conference whether he expected a new wave of criticism from conservatives who have denounced his handling of the AIDS epidemic.

''I expect everything all the time,'' he said.

At the news conference, Mr. Koop noted that the legislation ordering a national mailer to be accomplished by June 30 spelled out that its content was not to be subject to clearance outside the health department.

''We took them at their word,'' said Dr. Koop. ''This was not cleared in the sense that some documents are.''

Dr. James Mason, head of the Centers for Disease Control, said later that staff members of the Domestic Policy Council asked to see a copy after ''camera-ready'' pages were about to go to the printers and subsequently asked for a second copy.

''No changes were made,'' Dr. Mason said. 'It's What You Do'

Mr. Bowen said in the interview that the brochure seeks to emphasize how AIDS is and is not transmitted and ''to get the message out that it is behavior that puts one at risk.''

''It's not who you are,'' he said. ''It's what you do.''

Dr. Koop has often run into opposition from Administration officials outside the health department for his persistence in calling for the use of condoms by sexually active people not in monogamous relationships. Four Million in Spanish

The information project calls for 110 million copies to be printed in English and an additional four million in Spanish. The bulk will be mailed directly to the 107 million households served by the United States Postal Service.

Mr. Bowen also said special efforts will be made to get the booklet to people who have no fixed mailing address.

Congress was explicit in ordering a national mailing this year and saying it was to be ''distributed without necessary clearance of the content by any official, organization or office.''